In 1984, Catherine Fiehn Malat and Eric LeStrange met working at the school paper at Sacred Heart University. They dated for about a year until circumstances forced them into a painful break up that lasted 30 years.

Now, they're back together and getting married at a very public Valentine's Day ceremony at the Empire State Building.

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Each year, the Empire State Building hosts a Valentine's Day Weddings Contest that chooses 14 couples to have a 15-minute wedding ceremony on the 86th floor Observatory that gets press coverage. Couples must submit an essay about their love story and their connection to New York City.

Fiehn Malat and LeStrange's story made the cut.

"All I remember was this quiet shy guy at the newspaper, and I hardly knew his name I actually had a crush on his best friend and one day he came up to me and said, 'Can I kiss you?' My first thought was 'Oh no, now your friend will never go out with me,'" Fiehn Malat recalled.

When the two went their separate ways they both got married and started families in Milford and Monroe. Fiehn Malat, a professional photographer in Milford, had been divorced for years when she reached out to LeStrange on Facebook.

It was around the 50th anniversary of John F Kennedy's assassination, and she remembered that LeStrange, a history buff, was born around that time. She wished him a happy birthday but did not receive a response until months later. LeStrange answered her message and asked if she would take professional head shots for his LinkedIn page.LeStrange, who was going through a divorce at the time, saw an opportunity to reconnect with a friend and have someone to talk to during a tough time. He did not imagine it would turn into more, he said. They met up on Easter 2014 at Seven Seas in Milford.

"At first I thought I would brush him off," Fiehn Malat said. "But he gave me a hug goodbye and it was just back. This was the person I was meant to be with and he felt the same way."

"I saw something in her eyes that I remembered from back then. Just the way we looked at each other–that connection came back to me," LeStrange said. "It came on pretty quickly because we had that bond way back and it seemed it didn't really leave us."

It took LeStrange about six months to realize he wanted to marry Fiehn Malat. He proposed at Boothe Memorial Park in Stratford with a sapphire ring they picked to honor Fiehn Malat's grandmother (it's her birth stone).

As a wedding and event photographer who has seen it all, Fiehn Malat said the Empire State Building contest was perfect because it promised a unique wedding with none of the planning. They found out they had been selected on January 9, and scrambled to get ready.

Fiehn Malat's daughter and LeStrange's son and daughter and four-year-old grandson will be at the ceremony. The family will spend the rest of the day taking photos at iconic spots around New York City.

For LeStrange, who describes himself as very shy, the publicity around the Valentine's Day weddings is a bit nerve racking.

"We have a press conference," he said. "It's funny to be in the spotlight; I have to come up with some amazing anecdotes."

"It's kind of surreal; It hasn't really hit me yet," Fiehn Malat said. "My life is pageants and weddings, but I'm not usually the subject."